So the griefers will be excluded from this mode by............?
Unfortunately, it wouldn't prevent griefing.. but it would make the griefers assigned to a power. *IF* the devs were clever, they could assign bonuses for people going after challenging targets, and penalties for going after easy ones.
Since people like to use other games as examples, I'll use vanilla WoW. Back at launch, they had intended to implement a dishonor system to mitigate high level people ganking "lowbies". The idea was that you'd accrue dishonor points for killing anyone 5 or more levels below your own (PC or NPC guards). Get enough of them, and you lose access to your own faction cities and services, and become kill-on-sight to everyone. It was described in the printed manual, but never implemented. Mostly because the PvP people whined too much.
Instead, they pushed battleground instances and essentially sucked all the fun out of open world PvP, since people who liked doing it got better rewards for being in battlegrounds, leaving only the griefers out in the open world.
How does that apply to Elite? Well, if you hunt down somebody in their Propoganda Wagon Type-7 with your Anaconda, and blast their leaflets into the next system, you aren't really very heroic, are you? I mean sure, if they were in YOUR faction's system trying to undermine, you did the right thing and stopped them... but if you were in THEIR territory preventing them from fortifying, well... all is fair in love and war, but it's not going to win you any honor points for glorious combat.
Now, here's the thing. If we want to pretend the various factions are like real-world factions, they'd care about more than just numbers. They'd also care about public image, and being able to spin things to show how they are RIGHT and their opponents are scum. Blowing up a defensless freighter in their own territory is a low blow, and would be seen as such by all the powers and their followers.
So, if *I* were in charge your faction, and you obliterated that Propoganda Wagon, I'd secretly applaud your actions, but publically denounce you and exact some form of punishment to demonstrate that MY faction believes in law and order, yadda yadda. Maybe you'd get a nice extra cash reward but also a demerit that would count against your rank.
Keep doing cheese actions, and you lose rank in your faction for poor judgement, or have to work extra hard doing non-cheese things to work them off...
Just an idea.